Which condition is characterized by pressure on a nerve and can lead to sensations like sharp shooting pain?

Nerve entrapment is a condition where a nerve is compressed or constricted, often due to surrounding tissues such as muscles, tendons, or ligaments. This compression can disrupt the normal function of the nerve, leading to a range of symptoms including sharp, shooting pain, tingling, or numbness in the area served by the nerve. The sensations arise because the nerve is unable to transmit signals effectively due to the pressure it is experiencing.

Conditions like tendonitis, neuropathy, and muscle strain do not specifically involve the same mechanism of nerve compression leading to the acute, shooting pain described in the question. Tendonitis involves inflammation of a tendon, neuropathy refers to a variety of nerve conditions that might cause numbness or weakness but not necessarily sharp pain from compression, and muscle strain pertains to injury in muscle fibers rather than nerve damage. By focusing on nerve compression as a direct cause of the described symptoms, nerve entrapment is correctly identified as the specific condition fitting this profile.